There are increasing pressures on the elevator industry to reduce the space occupied by elevator installations within buildings. One solution is to reduce the depth of the pit of the elevator shaft, however, regulations such as European Standard EN81-1:1998 specify that when an elevator car rests on its fully compressed buffers, there shall be a specified minimum free vertical clearance between the pit floor and the lowest parts of the car. There are exceptions to these rules, such as for toeguards, roller guides, guide shoes and safety gear, all of which are generally mounted on the outside periphery of the car. A common situation is depicted in FIGS. 1 to 3. In this example, the elevator car 1 is supported by means of an underslung pulley box 2 on ropes 4. The ropes 4 are driven by a traction sheave (not shown) to move the car 1 along guide rails (not shown) mounted to opposing shaft walls 6. A buffer 16 is mounted in the pit 12 of the shaft 10 to arrest the car 1 should it travel beyond its normal travel limit (e.g. the lowest landing). When the car 1 rests on the fully compressed buffer 16, as shown specifically in FIG. 3, a minimum free vertical clearance C exists between the pit floor 14 and the lowest part of the car 1, which in this instance is the pulley box 2. Although the toeguard 8 actually extends below the pulley box 2, as mentioned above, the regulations allow it to be excluded from consideration.
The objective of the present invention is to reduce the pit depth and thereby the minimum free vertical clearance between the pit floor and the lowest parts of the car while maintaining the safety of any personnel working in the pit.